OT: 'Lost' and more...

[TerranC]

Atrocities said:
Ya, but they negelect to tell you that as part of the once in a life time get away, you get away for good as your head is seperated from your body.

That was just bad. I'm just going to pretend that you weren't yourself when you typed this.

And regards to Lost, Lost is crap. It killed what little interest I had in it the moment I saw that episode with the korean couple.

[AMF]

TerranC said:
And regards to Lost, Lost is crap. It killed what little interest I had in it the moment I saw that episode with the korean couple.

Which one? Why? I think it's certainly an intriguing show, especially since it's clearly not just about the Island, and not just about the present...I also think the metaphysical aspects are fascinating. And it's creepy. My only real bummer is that it's easy to make things seem weird, unexplainable , inextricable, but it's a lot harder to tie it all together in a decent way. I mean, there is so much strange stuff going on that at a certain point I just get to wondering whether the only way to explain it all is by invoking God, lots of dream sequences, or some other deux ex machina. Which is fine, but it does seem sort of a cop out. Like when St. Elsewhere ended (I think it was that one) where the entire series over the years was shown to be the hallucinations of an autistic kid. That's just bad writing.

If they can wrap it all up in a way that answers questions, that's what I want. The tendency for writers of this sort of show, however, is to leave as many questions unanswered as otherwise - I think becuase, at the end of the day, they've hyped all the mystery so much that they actually can't satisfy all their mysteries.

That's not to say that such a tactic is inherently a bad thing. I greatly appreciate those writers like John Fowles or David Lynch who approach their subject as if the reader/viewer was part of it. Didja ever read the French Lieutenants' Woman? It's a great book, very very well written, and pulls you into the role of the protagonist very well. And then, near the end of the book, when the protagonist becomes very confused and disoriented by new sudden information, the author imparts the same feelings in the reader by messing with the writing and, of all things, the pagination. It's a cute little trick, but just as the protagonist is feeling like everything he's assumed up to that point is up to question, the reader also feels like the ground has been pulled out from under them, becuase suddenly they're reading the same, but slightly different, passages twice, and the page numbers are slighlty screwy, etc...it's good work, and for years I didn't really get what was going on.

Or, howabout Lost Highway by David Lynch. One cogent interpretation of that movie is that it's all pretty much a hallucination in this guys head - but the point is not that as much as the fact that, as a viewer, you are as confused and off-gaurd as the protagonist...

Essentially, they're pulling the reader/viewer directly into the piece, and, if done well, is pretty fascinating, and stays with you.

I just hope they don't do that with lost, becuase of the fact that it's almost impossible for the viewer to relate to the subject matter - hence it would be another 'Matrix' or 'Donnie Darko' where it's a great yarn, and fascinates, but has ultimately less staying power or value as literature.

Geez, I really am rambling today.

I really must stop drinking so much coffee in the morning.

Thanks,

Alarik

[TerranC]

alarikf said:Which one? Why?

Episode 6.

Edit: as to why, I think this sums it up: the episode's title is "House of the Rising Sun" and it's supposed to be about a Korean woman who's surname is sun. That's not witty. That's just downright stupid.

[Randallw]

If you mean the one which concentrated on the husband, I thought it was good. We see things from the husbands perspective and learn that his wife is wrong about him, and that what he does is to protect her.

[Ragnarok]

TerranC said:

Episode 6.

Edit: as to why, I think this sums it up: the episode's title is "House of the Rising Sun" and it's supposed to be about a Korean woman who's surname is sun. That's not witty. That's just downright stupid.

So you judge the show on an episode title?
What about the actual show did you not like?

[TerranC]

Ragnarok said:
So you judge the show on an episode title?
What about the actual show did you not like?

Randallw said:
If you mean the one which concentrated on the husband, I thought it was good. We see things from the husbands perspective and learn that his wife is wrong about him, and that what he does is to protect her.

... No, that is not the episode I am talking about. And no, I am not judging the show on an episode title - I had believed that that would be enough to show my beef with the show, but apparently it doesn't seem to have registered.

To clarify, my biggest beef with the show is that the creators seem to have chosen that korean couple to be the token minority figure. From what I have seen of their portrayals, they are too damn stereotypical, and even then the creators used the wrong stereotypes, seeming to liken their nation of origin with a particular nation neighbouring it.

The show, in it's other aspects is fine. It's got hobbits and aliens and adam and eve and everything. It's just that for a show to be entertaining to me, it has to get whatever it is portraying reasonably right or seemingly justified; Lost doesn't do that, at least not with the "korean" characters.

Edit: That's it. I've given this piece of turd that is hollywood enough attention. If you still don't know what I mean, PM me.

[Slynky]

I watch Lost. I look forward to new episodes as much as I looked forward to Firefly episodes. Which, is (was) a lot!

I think the writers have done a great job fleshing out the characters so we can get a good glimpse of thier character and what drives (drove) them. Story line? Not sure where it's going but have heard (read) some say they all died and are between earth and their final destination (be it heaven or hell). That this is just a sort of limbo. (shrug...who knows...maybe the writers don't know yet, LOL)

As to "minority tokens", they are what I refer to as complying with the success formula. The reason why Bruce Willis gets paired with Samuel L. Jackson...to pull in a diversified audience. To generalize, it pre-supposes that whites won't go see a "black" movie and blacks won't go see a "white" movie, so they mix and match to get everyone to come. (grin).

So, in Lost, we have more than the Korean couple filling that niche (so to speak). We even have "overweight" representation (LOL).

And, I just love the way Kate looks! (sorry)

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Alarikf, can I put that first rant on my webpage, please?

[Hugh Manatee]

TerranC said:

... No, that is not the episode I am talking about. And no, I am not judging the show on an episode title - I had believed that that would be enough to show my beef with the show, but apparently it doesn't seem to have registered.

To clarify, my biggest beef with the show is that the creators seem to have chosen that korean couple to be the token minority figure. From what I have seen of their portrayals, they are too damn stereotypical, and even then the creators used the wrong stereotypes, seeming to liken their nation of origin with a particular nation neighbouring it.

The show, in it's other aspects is fine. It's got hobbits and aliens and adam and eve and everything. It's just that for a show to be entertaining to me, it has to get whatever it is portraying reasonably right or seemingly justified; Lost doesn't do that, at least not with the "korean" characters.

Edit: That's it. I've given this piece of turd that is hollywood enough attention. If you still don't know what I mean, PM me.

I thought the Middle Eastern dude was the token minority..... or the black guy with the estranged kid.... or the fat guy.... or the guy in the wheel chair..... lol.

Seriously, IIRC TerranC IS of korean descent, sorry if thats supposed to be a secret or something but I can see where you're coming from . If there was a cuban guy on that show, and he was a jazz musician who made bongos out of boar skins and a log or a was a baseball player, yeah i'd be kinda pissed too.

IMO middle eastern people got shafted a bit more then the asian in terms of portraial. You have 1 middle eastern guy on the flight, he just happens to be an ex-secret police officer trained in intell gathering, espianoge and torture, each of which he gets to employ on the show. His reason for being on the flight is he had to bury his friend who was a suicide bomber..... yeah unwitting mafia wife who knows acupunture and stooge yakuza husband who speaks half *** korean dilalects ain't so bad now eh ?

Meh, I don't really sweat stuff like that, look at enterprise and the anti-vulcans, you expect to much from writers(BTW I hear "Knocker Spocker" from enterprise has a role in the new season, and what's her name that voiced Leela on futurama, from married with children....). Aside from occasionally dumb characters the show is pretty fun, got a good cliffhanger vibe from episode to episode, like an old radio show(complete with racial stereotypes...). My only problem is that I know this can't end well, same gut feeling i get from battle star galactica, you know it's going to turn into Lost 1984 where the descendants of the stradees try to survive, then integrate into society while running from polar bears.....

[Atrocities]

You know, if they took this LOST formula and applied it to a Sci-Fi show where as it was a space liner that crashed on a distant world... ohh that would be interesting.